the talks are a last-ditch effort to avoid spending cuts and tax hikes from 90% of american households. mike emanuel is live on capitol hill where all the action is taking place. is there a lot of action? there is a lot of buzz on capitol hill. mitch mcconnell, who will be attending a white house meeting told us a few moments ago that we are always the running out of time. chairman max baucus, the democrat says that he thinks this will fiscal cliff matter comes down as one white house meeting two hours from now. another top senate republican said a short time ago that he was calling on president obama to lead. >> the president is not a senator anymore. he's a president. just as president reagan worked to deal with tip o'neill and bill clinton and president eisenhower, we need leadership on not just taxing rich people, but we contact them and it wouldn't help the medicare fiscal cliff. greg: others are skeptical, noting that high-profile meetings are for show often times and all about tactics. we expect the president will try a stopgap measure extending middle-class tax rates, extending